An extremely difficult bird to get a close look at, though its "Wet me lips" call is often heard.
Hard to flush, Quail prefer to creep though the grass with a low profile or squat tightly rather than take to the air, and even when it does the latter it will seldom fly far before dropping to ground into the tallest piece of standing grass in the vicinity. Having said that we quite often see them in the Quinta's garden as they prefer staying close to the house with the protection offered by our dogs rather than chancing their luck out in the wilds with the foxes!
Common Quail live for only a couple of years in the wild, (though they live longer in captivity), and those in southern Portugal can breed several times thoughout the year, moving north and south with the seasons. They are sexually mature at an extremely young age, generally around six weeks.
